Here at Giva we search for organizations, large and small, that are doing a great job of changing the world around them for the better; and we are pleased to salute them here.

Create the Good

It is becoming increasingly important for people to find ways that allow them to feel fulfilled; people want to make a difference in our world. The organization "Create the Good" is all about people coming together to make a difference. With a growing workforce of almost 650,000 people and over 7,000 volunteer opportunities, they are helping create a space where anyone can volunteer.

On the Create the Good website: http://createthegood.org/, you will be able to find volunteer opportunities for even the tightest of schedules. You can explore their projects and find inspiration to start up community projects and also search for volunteers so that you are able to build your own workforce to get your projects going.

The "Create the Good" campaign and AARP were started by Ethel Percy Andrus when she was 78 years old (they truly mean it when they say any volunteer; there isn't an age limit on giving back!). She is quoted on their website saying, "The challenge, to live up to our better selves, to believe well of our fellow men and perhaps by doing so to help create the good, to experiment, to explore, to change, and to grow." This woman was not only a visionary in volunteer work, shown in the statement, "to believe well of our fellow men" alone, but the message as a whole is even stronger--that we as people are not complete; we are not doing all that we were meant to (existential crisis alert!) until we are helping our fellow man and believing that they are innately good and are willing to help others as well; that our acts of good and altruistic tendencies are so much stronger than those who are selfish.

By clicking on their "explore projects" link, you will immediately be given access to ways to start something as simple as helping people save money when they shop to sending books to troops and organizing a food drive in your community. Now, AARP in general has many outlets that allow for people to volunteer such as tutoring young children to helping people with their taxes. What sets "Create the Good" apart from their other branches of volunteer work is that Create the Good is huge on inspiration. They want people to inspire and feel inspired so that no one thinks that volunteering is ever too difficult. The service is free and there are multiple opportunities to help out in different ways. By clicking on their "Find opportunities" link on their homepage you will be able to search for volunteer opportunities by keyword, your zip code, your state and even working from home opportunities. Each opportunity comes with detailed information on what has to be done and also start and end dates so that people are able to find the best work for their schedule. If you are more focused on finding help, it is free to register your cause on the Create the Good website and there is no size limit on your cause. So if you need two people to help you out, they are willing to help you find them. After registering, your cause has to be approved and once that is complete you will be able to manage the opportunities you create and track who is helping you out. "Create the Good" is helping fuel something beautiful of which everyone can be a part.